New Beginnings

Summary: As the swan looked mournfully as her old friend the knight walked away from the lake she thought of her past. She wished that she could have a new beginning. One shot. Reference for future stories

Disclaimer: If I did own both Princess Tutu and Sailor Moon Ahiru would have stayed as human and Seiya would never have had a crush on Serena and Rini would never have acted like she was in love with Darien. Yet that shall never happen *sobs*

If he looked closely he could see small crystals of ice forming at just the very edges of the vast lake. The wind blew across its surface creating small ripples in the water. Despite the cold it was a good day for a walk. The air was fresh and the sky had cleared up. He couldn't exactly describe it but this lake made him feel at peace. The atmosphere there seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders as well as start a twitch in his right hand.

Fakir didn't have any writing utensils with him at the moment anyway he was just by the lake for a few moments. But even just staring at the lake he felt an inexplicable urge to write. Maybe he would just jot down a few ideas once he went back to Charon's. Fakir allowed himself to drink in his surroundings, the silence in the air was calming to him but he still felt that something was missing.

"Hey!" Well it was almost silent and calming. Sighing Fakir turned around to look at the short blonde girl behind him.

"Do you know how long it took me to find you here?" she exclaimed. Her hands were on her hips and she was frowning at him. As she looked at him gradually her eyes softened and she spoke again

"You know I thought that you were actually looking forward to the fire festival and you were late to practice again Fakir". As she relaxed from her tense position she seemed to realise how cold it was and brought her arms up to at a feeble attempt to shield herself from the harsh wind. The trees around them were swaying in a harmonious dance and the skirt of her uniform bobbing lightly in the wind. Seeing this Fakir's annoyed expression seemed to soften.

"Rachel..." he murmured. He then made his way over to the small girl with a trace of an apologetic look on his face.

"You know I wasn't that late. Anyway I was just dropping by here quickly" he said. At this Rachel gave a huff, her knees were knocking together and her teeth were chattering from the cold.

"You are" she said with annoyed expression. "Besides it is not the first time you disappeared and were late so don't…. you know what never mind but still Fakir". She then proceeded to look out at the lake and seemed to throw a glare at an object that only she could see in the fog. The lake had caught her attention.

"Wait, Fakir isn't this the place that you normally come to so that you can write those stories of yours?" she asked. Fakir looked at her small shivering form and rolled his eyes. He then proceeded to take off his jacked and place it over the girl's shoulders.

"Yes this is the place I told you about but like I said before I was only stopping by. Besides writing here is for when the weather is warm and when I don't have any trouble moving my hand". Waving his right hand in front of her face, as she looked at it she noticed a scar on his hand. It wasn't that noticeable but when she looked at it closely she noticed what seemed to be ink just under the skin. It looked like he had stabbed himself with a quill while he was writing.

"Fakir where did you get that scar?" she asked puzzled as to why she never noticed or asked about that scar earlier.

"Huh?" he looked at his hand and seemed surprised.

"I can't remember, I've never noticed it before".

"How can you not notice that" she gestured to his hand "it looks like you stabbed yourself with a bloody quill!"

"I just can't" he said while not looking at her. It was true ever since Mythos and Rue left he couldn't remember what had happened during the last year that they were here before they left. Yet at the same time he couldn't help but feel as if something was missing.

Sensing that he didn't want to talk about it Rachel dropped the topic. So for a couple more minutes they stared at the lake before they decided to leave. Just before they turned to walk back to the school she noticed something watching them. "

Hey Fakir why is that swan doing here, it's too cold shouldn't it have migrated with the rest of the birds?" she nodded at the small swan that seemed to be watching them with the saddest eyes ever. As Fakir looked at the swan he was hit with a weird sense of familiarity. He just shrugged though and together they left.

The lone swan watched them as they left. She remembered the final battle of how Fakir promised not to leave her. For the first couple of months he visited her every day. He wrote stories but was careful of how they turned out. He talked to her and she would try to talk back but it was like he understood what he was talking about even though all he heard were quacks. It had been a year since the final battle and no one remembered anything about it.

During those first few months she was happy and eventually fell in love with the writer. Yet around half a year ago he lost his memories as well. First it had been that he had forgotten her name. Then he forgot about the story and with those memories were the fact that she was once human. Sometimes she would dream that he never forgot or that he somehow managed to make her human again but every day she would wake up and realise that it was just a dream.

She had long since grown into a beautiful swan. The only difference was that instead of beautiful white feather she had black once that were as dark as night. Her sky blue eyes no longer sparkled as much as they used to and even though they were still beautiful they were dull.

That night as the shadows crept across the lake a mysterious purple light spread across the light. A girl appeared with beautiful flowing dark purple hair that was almost black. She was wearing a dark violet halter neck top, black tights and laced up dark purple boots. She smiled as she saw the black swan and spoke to it.

"Hello Ahiru" she said. The swan was surprised that she knew the name they used to call her when she was a human. A clumsy girl even though her true form was a duck she had the ability to transform into a graceful princess with mysterious powers thanks to the evil writer Drosselmeyer.

"I have heard a lot about you. How you helped to save this story from a terrible tragedy at the hands of Drosselmeyer and his creation the Raven. Of how you gave up your forms as a human to be able to save everyone and that you never gave up hope. Yet even through all that your only reward was to return to this form as a duck. Never to be able to dance again" the mysterious girl continued.

The swan was even more surprised that the girl knew of all that has happened.

"I am here because I was raised to always believe in second chances and I am here to give you a chance to return to your form as a human. The price though is that you will have to leave this world and travel to others to help them. You will see pain and suffering but will be able to protect the innocent from it. One day you may even be able to see those that you have left behind again." The girl offered.

The swan thought about this mysterious offer. She would have to leave everything that she had ever known but was that really so bad? No one here remembered her other than Mythos and Rue and they had left already. Fakir had even found someone else. Maybe this way she would be able to leave behind all this heartbreak and haunting memories and create a new life for herself.

The swan then nodded at the girl who then smiled gently before summoning a necklace. It had been created by her mother to give to this swan if she accepted the offer. It would allow her to return to human form like the one from Drosselmeyer but only while she was wearing. It would also help her to learn new powers if she accepted this offer. It was a black choker with a pendent of three feathers. They were black, yellow and white and they surrounded.

The girl then clasped the pendant around the swan's elegant neck. Soft lavender light surrounded the swan as she began to transform into a human. Once she fully turned into her new human form. She noticed how her hair was now a black ebony colour. She was older. Her body had developed like it would have if she had stayed as a human and she was now taller. She was very beautiful. Her hair was in a braid but it no longer stuck up like it used but was now flowing freely down her back feathers had been braided into it.

Her eyes shone with a light that was once thought to be lost. Yet if looked at closely they were still sad. She stood with a grace that she had only had as Princess Tutu. She was a wearing a lavender dress with a halter neck and violet ballet flats. The swan now girl smiled gratefully at the mysterious girl with purple hair.

"You look beautiful" said the girl "my name is Hotaru. You know you have a new life now. So now you can have a new name to represent that. What name shall you take?"

Ahiru then looked at herself and thought of her past and how she got be who she was now. She smiled at Hotaru and said her new name.

"Raven"